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Science & Mathematics

The Museum's collections hold thousands of objects related to chemistry, biology, physics, astronomy, and other sciences. Instruments range from early American telescopes to lasers. Rare glassware and other artifacts from the laboratory of Joseph Priestley, the discoverer of oxygen, are among the scientific treasures here. A Gilbert chemistry set of about 1937 and other objects testify to the pleasures of amateur science. Artifacts also help illuminate the social and political history of biology and the roles of women and minorities in science.

The mathematics collection holds artifacts from slide rules and flash cards to code-breaking equipment. More than 1,000 models demonstrate some of the problems and principles of mathematics, and 80 abstract paintings by illustrator and cartoonist Crockett Johnson show his visual interpretations of mathematical theorems.

From its infancy, timekeeping has depended on astronomy. The motion of celestial bodies relative to the rotating Earth provided the most precise measure of time until the mid-twentieth century, when quartz and atomic clocks proved more constant. Until that time, mechanical observatory clocks were set and continuously corrected to agree with astronomical observations.

The application of electricity to observatory timepieces in the late 1840s revolutionized the way American astronomers noted the exact movement of celestial events. U.S. Coast Survey teams devised a method to telegraph clock beats, both within an observatory and over long distances, and to record both the beats and the moment of observation simultaneously. British astronomers dubbed it the "American method of astronomical observation" and promptly adopted it themselves.

Transmitting clock beats by telegraph not only provided astronomers with a means of recording the exact moment of astronomical observations but also gave surveyors a means of determining longitude. Because the Earth rotates on its axis every twenty-four hours, longitude and time are equivalent (fifteen degrees of longitude equals one hour).

In 1849 William Cranch Bond, then director of the Harvard College Observatory, devised an important improvement for clocks employed in the "American method." He constructed several versions of break-circuit devices—electrical contracts and insulators attached to the mechanical clock movement—for telegraphing clock beats once a second. The Bond regulator shown here incorporates such a device. Bond's son Richard designed the accompanying drum chronograph, an instrument that touched a pen to a paper-wrapped cylinder to record both the beats of the clock and the instant of a celestial event, signaled when an observer pressed a telegraph key.

This chemical balance was made by Aaron Pollock of Boston. It was used in the laboratory of Ira Remsen (1846–1927), who became the first professor of chemistry at Johns Hopkins University in 1876. The size of the pans indicates that this balance was used for gross preparation. The balance is made of brass, with bearings of steel and agate. The pans are copper. The cabinet is mahogany with glass-paneled doors and glass panels in the back. Chemical balances are usually contained in cabinets because their operation is affected by air changes and humidity. The drawer beneath the pillar contains the weights.

From its infancy, timekeeping has depended on astronomy. The motion of celestial bodies relative to the rotating Earth provided the most precise measure of time until the mid-twentieth century, when quartz and atomic clocks proved more constant. Until that time, mechanical observatory clocks were set and continuously corrected to agree with astronomical observations.

The application of electricity to observatory timepieces in the late 1840s revolutionized the way American astronomers noted the exact movement of celestial events. U.S. Coast Survey teams devised a method to telegraph clock beats, both within an observatory and over long distances, and to record both the beats and the moment of observation simultaneously. British astronomers dubbed it the "American method of astronomical observation" and promptly adopted it themselves.

Transmitting clock beats by telegraph not only provided astronomers with a means of recording the exact moment of astronomical observations but also gave surveyors a means of determining longitude. Because the Earth rotates on its axis every twenty-four hours, longitude and time are equivalent (fifteen degrees of longitude equals one hour).

In 1849 William Cranch Bond, then director of the Harvard College Observatory, devised an important improvement for clocks employed in the "American method." He constructed several versions of break-circuit devices—electrical contracts and insulators attached to the mechanical clock movement—for telegraphing clock beats once a second. The Bond regulator shown in the forground incorporates such a device. Bond's son Richard designed the accompanying drum chronograph, an instrument that touched a pen to a paper-wrapped cylinder to record both the beats of the clock and the instant of a celestial event, signaled when an observer pressed a telegraph key.

This pedometer consists of four discs in a wooden case that is carved with running foliage. The outermost disc is made of silvered metal, evenly divided into single units, and numbered by tens from zero to 100. A brass pointer is attached to the inner edge of this disc. The second disc is brass. Along its outer edge, it is evenly divided into units of 250, and numbered by thousands from 1,000 to 12,000. The disc is marked: Numeri Milienarior[u]m Pasuvm Iac Ram D Scriba Inuentor (/) Numeri Miliariorum Germaniorum Cumunium. The inner edge of this disc is evenly divided into quarter-units and numbered by ones from 1 to 12. The third disc is silvered metal and marked with a floral pattern. A hand or pointer extends from the disc. The fourth disc is also patterned and has an ornate hand. A wing nut holds all of the discs together.

A metal plate screwed to the back of the instrument has two belt clips. The wearer would also tie the pedometer around his leg through a metal eye extending from the bottom of the instrument. The pedometer was then supposed to jiggle with each step, moving the counters one unit. The outer scale on the second disc thus counted the number of steps or paces taken, and the inner scale counted the number of German miles accumulating.

Jacob Ramminger, alias "the Scribe," made mathematical instruments in Stuttgart, in the southern German state of Baden-Württemberg, in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. The only other instrument known to have survived from his workshop is a 1594 surveying compass owned by the British Museum. In 1601 his shop issued a collection of manuscript maps, Seehburch, darinnen alle Seeh und Weyher in dem löplichen Hertzogthumb Würtemberg, now owned by the Würtemberg Library (Cod.hist.fol.261) and viewable online at http://digital.wlb-stuttgart.de/purl/bsz337692629.

This wooden rectangular rule is reported to be a Persian drah, or pic, a unit of length measure used in surveying and architecture. According to Russ Rowlett, the pic (or pik) was a traditional unit of distance in the Eastern Mediterranean and Near East. An "arm" unit, like the ell, the pic varied considerably. A typical value was about 28 inches (71 centimeters). This example is divided on one side in pencil and on the other with carved notches. The divisions on the pencil side are at: 3.0, 6.3, 9.6, 12.7, 25.3, 28.3, 31.6, 37.8, 50.3, 53.4, 56.6, 59.8, and 62.7 cm. The divisions on the notched side are at: 12.5, 15.7, 18.8, 21.8, 25.0, 37.9, 41.0, 44.2, 47.1, 50.2, 56.2, 59.2, and 62.3 cm.

The pencil side is marked at the right end: teheran (/) dept of State. In 1892, the U.S. Department of State transferred this object to the Smithsonian.

Reference: Russ Rowlett, How Many? A Dictionary of Units of Measurement, July 11, 2005, http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/index.html.

This wooden rectangular rule is reported to be a Persian drah, or pic, and said to have been used for measuring dry goods. It is divided on two sides by roughly cut arrows and vertical lines. One side has Persian characters inside circles at both ends. On that side, the divisions are at: 4.5, 8.8*, 13.2, 17.4*, 21.5, 25.9, 30.0, 34.3*, 38.5, 42.7, 47.1, 51.2*, 55.5, 59.7*, and 64.1 cm. Divisions with an * are marked with an arrow rather than a line on the rule. These divisions are spaced apart 1 centimeter further than the divisions on another Persian drah, 1979.0991.01. On the other side, all of the divisions are vertical lines, at: 11.7, 23.0, 34.2, 45.5, and 57.0 cm.

In 1892 the U.S. Department of State transferred this object to the Smithsonian.

This instrument is marked "MAX KOHL Werkstätten für Prazisions Mechanick CHEMNITZ I.S." and "CENTRAL SCIENTIFIC CO. LABORATORY APPARATUS CHICAGO U.S.A." Kohl described it as an "Earth Inductor after Palmieri...with round frame 300 mm diameter, with 100 turns of 1 mm thick wire, with commutator." Luigi Palmieri was a physicist in Naples who, in the 1840s, developed an earth inductor with elliptical ring that rotated around its longer axis. The Palmieri apparatus with a circular ring, as in this example, seems to have originated in the 1860s.

Max Kohl was in business as a scientific instrument maker from 1876 to 1937. The Central Scientific Co. was established in 1900. This example belonged to Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., and came to the Smithsonian in 1981.

This battered table, printed on heavy green paper, gives an alphabetical list of units of measure, conversion factors, and new units of measure. For example, for the unit of measure centimeters, the conversion factor is 0.3937. Multiplying a measurement in centimeters by the conversion factor gives a result in inches.

The table was distributed by Precision Equipment Company of Chicago, Illinois. The back of the table advertises the company’s shelving and safety steps. A sentence at the bottom of the chart reads: Reproduced with the Permission of Foxboro Co. and Exporters’ Digest.

The owner of the table inserted a row with the conversion factor of 1.151 for converting from nautical miles to statute miles.

Exporters’ Digest was published from 1927 through 1958. Foxboro Company was in business from 1912 through 1990. A surviving piece of trade literature suggests that the Precision Equipment Company was in business in the 1950s. Hence the rough date of 1950 assigned to the object.

This instrument, a lighter and more robust version of the standard unifilar magnetometer used at the Kew Observatory, was designed by H. A. Denholm Fraser for the Magnetic Survey of India. Features include scales graduated on optical glass, and a phosphor-bronze ribbon to suspend the magnet. This example is marked "T. COOKE & SONS LTD. LONDON & YORK. No. 26" and "U.S.C.& G.S. No. 40." It was used at the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey's magnetic observatory in Honolulu from 1927 to the 1950s. The U.S. Geological Survey acquired it in 1973, when it took over the geomagnetic program of the federal government, and transferred it to the Smithsonian in 1982.

Thomas Cooke began in business in York, England, in 1837. The firm became T. Cooke & Sons in 1868, and T. Cooke & Sons Ltd. in 1897. A merger with Troughton & Simms Ltd. in 1922, led to the formation of Cooke, Troughton & Simms Ltd.

Photograph 82-15291 shows this magnetometer fitted with the induction apparatus developed by J. H. Nelson in 1938.

This instrument is marked "D.T.M. C.I.W. N° 19." Designed and built by the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism of the Carnegie Institution of Washington in 1912, it incorporates an astronomical telescope and magnetometer for the determination of magnetic declination and horizontal intensity, and a dip circle with a Lloyd-Creak attachment for the determination of inclination and intensity. It is relatively light and easy to manipulate. It was used for a few years and then set aside when the universal magnetometer with earth inductor came into use.

This magnetometer was probably transferred to the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey after the Carnegie Institution closed its geomagnetic program. The U.S. Geological Survey acquired it in 1973, when it took over the geomagnetic program of the federal government, and transferred it to the Smithsonian in 1982.

Ref: J. A. Fleming, "Two New Types of Magnetometers Made by the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism of the Carnegie Institution of Washington," Terrestrial Magnetism 16 (1911): 1-12.